Woman partially pulled from Southwest Airlines 737 in flight

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: grey580

They're all caused my blade failures. The blade gets thrown into the side of the engine causing damage that the airflow around the engine then grabs onto that damage and rips it apart.

There's a blade durability problem with the Rolls Trent 1000 that's hammering the 787-9, but I haven't heard of anything with the CFM56.

Fortunately, the engine frames are designed to retain the blades so they just rattle around a bit.


The only thing missing from this story are an imp flying from the clouds and tearing apart the engine wiring.

a reply to: JustMike

I was seriously impressed with the controller as well. He did an outstanding job getting aaircraft out of the wayand keeping the crew updated even before he knew what was going on. And then after he handed them off handling the other aircraft.

originally posted by: JustMike
a reply to: Zaphod58
That's about what I figured. Fifteen minutes sounded absurd to me, and even ten was a stretch. But for people under stress, every second would feel like ten.

Some have mentioned the professionalism of the cockpit crew and ATC, but just to illustrate, I've transcribed a crucial minute's worth of the recording you posted back on page 2. I do not know if it was the Captain or First Officer communicating with ATC from the Southwest flight, but you can hear the tension in her voice. And understandably, considering what she knew of the situation they faced:
Time on the recording: cca 16:23 to 17.30:

Pilot or F/O: Southwest 1380, we'd like to turn... start turning it now.

[Reply from ATC, giving details of where airport and runway is, and advising about approach altitude.]

Pilot or F/O: Ok, could you have the... medical meet us there on the runway as well. We've got...um... injured passengers.

ATC: Injured passengers, ok, and are you – is your airplane physically on fire?

Pilot or F/O: No, it's not on fire, but part of it's missing. [short pause] They said there's a hole and… someone went out.

ATC: Umm – I'm sorry, you said there's a hole and somebody went out?

Pilot or F/O: [unintelligible]

ATC: Southwest 1380, it doesn't matter, we'll work it out there. The airport's just off to your right. Report it in sight, please.

Pilot or F/O: It's in sight.

It's almost impossible to imagine what it must be like for pilots in a situation like this. Yes, they train regularly in simulators, but when it's the real thing, it's beyond nightmares. These events are so rare that I'd expect many pilots go their entire careers without having to deal with such an emergency. And as for the ATC guy, he was freaking amazing. Not just in keeping up the comms with this stricken flight, but also with all the other aircraft in the area.

Thanks for transcribing a bit of it, she was so calm and yes ATC man was AMAZING.

TheTaff

The NTSB, at this point, is labeling it an engine failure. Whether it is declared an uncontained failure depends on where the blade came from.

A passenger said that the female passenger that died was pulled towards the hole, but didn't appear to go out it. After she was pulled in passengers around the area tried plugging the hole with jackets and things around them.

Was just reported that one passenger has died. It didn't specify who it was, I am guessing it was that lady that was sucked out of the window.

a reply to: Grimmley

They only reported 8 significant injuries including her. Seven were reported as non life threatening.

a reply to: hiddenhandofthetaff
Thanks for that. In my post I've now corrected "Pilot / F.O." to "Capt. / F.O." because they are both pilots.

I suspect she might have been F.O. on this particular flight. As I understand it, in an emergency, the Captain will often concentrate on flying his/her aircraft and leave comms to the F.O. The rule for pilots has always been, "Aviate, navigate, communicate" -- in that order. In an emergency like this, the Captain's priority is to aviate (fly the plane) and keep it on course. The First Officer would then take over most communications duties, sometimes responding to ATC after consulting with the Captain.

But with major airlines like Southwest, the First Officer is trained to take over all pilot duties if the Captain is in some way incapacitated or otherwise unavailable to fly the plane. She had to be able to "aviate, navigate, and communicate" and bring that aircraft in safely on her own. Otherwise, she would never have got the job.

I've seen some negative comments about flying in this thread, some of them probably tongue-in-cheek. However, I will say this: I love to fly, and for me, the take-offs and landings are the best part of the whole journey. Just in the past few months (since Dec '17) I've racked up about 20,000 miles (32,000km) of flying, and I have always felt far safer on a plane than in a taxi, bus or private car to or from an airport. Awful events like Southwest's are so incredibly rare that I'll take flying over other forms of transport any day. I know that all the major airlines maintain very high standards, both for their aircraft maintenance and their cockpit crew.

originally posted by: six67seven
Damn....I just booked Southwest for a business trip in May.

Lord be with me!!!!

me too!!!

a reply to: BASSPLYR
Don't worry about it. Your greatest risk on your journey is to and from the airport. Truly!

I've been flying commercially as a passenger for over forty years, and never once had an in-flight emergency. And the overwhelming majority of passengers would tell you the same.

In-flight emergencies are incredibly rare. Ok, if one happens on *our* flight, you or I might be toast. Or, as in the Southwest case, most of us will live to tell the tale.

I am not down-playing the tragic loss of this passenger. I am only saying that she was very unlucky. Sometimes, it's just your time. That's how I look at it. But commercial passenger flight is still the best-regulated and safest way to travel.

As long as you fly with a major airline, you're about as safe as you can be.

a reply to: JustMike

I used to fly interisland daily for work and never even had a mechanical issue at the gate, let alone an emergency in flight.

Happy to see that almost everyone is ok, sorry someone passed due to the incident.

I watched the NTSB on their pre-flight to the scene briefing, 3 to 4 uncontained engine failures per year internationally seems like good odds to me, better than traffic to the airport.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Any way to find out why
Same plane was canceleed yesterday.

Twitter

a reply to: Trillium

The same FLIGHT was cancelled yesterday, that doesn't mean it was the same plane.

a reply to: SpartanStoic

Three to four a year, compared to the number of flights isn't even a blip on the radar.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Trillium

The same FLIGHT was cancelled yesterday, that doesn't mean it was the same plane.

Ok still any way we could find out
you look like you could find out the way you quote down to engine number sometime

omg....just friggin omg

better now.....whew....yup

A turbine engine is so reliable....they go forever for just a nice thought...best invention ever love em they run on fuel oil.....penny's I tell ya

a reply to: Trillium

Only if Southwest says. Maintenance records at the airlines generally aren't released beyond their last heavy checks.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Pretty impressive traffic management there!

Kudos to ATC on this one!

Impressed by the crew and the ATC, cant expect much better than that in an emergency.

Shame about the passenger, but sometimes Stuff happens, could have been a crack that standard maintenance couldn't catch and finally got over stressed.